Ion, Houston’s innovation hub, today welcomes its first healthcare-centric partner, Houston Methodist, as it opens the doors to the Houston Methodist Tech Hub at Ion, a collaboration space for innovators and a living laboratory for digital health technology.

The 1,200-square-foot space includes simulated environments for an inpatient hospital room, an outpatient doctor’s clinic and patient home experience. The Tech Hub at Ion is modeled after the Center for Innovation Technology Hub located at Houston Methodist’s flagship location within the Texas Medical Center, which provides a complete laboratory environment for clinical staff to evaluate innovations and pilot technology such as remote monitoring, ambient intelligence, and autonomous technology to improve human performance and the patient experience.

“Houston Methodist’s space at the Ion opens up even more opportunities for our start-up and entrepreneur community to embed and gain exposure to the latest innovations in health care, health technology, and digital health,” said Jan E. Odegard, Executive Director of Ion. “This partnership and opportunity provided by Houston Methodist, a leading healthcare organization in the country, is a testament to the ecosystem we’re building and the talent within our building. Furthermore, Houston Methodist’s approach and appetite for cross-industry innovation and collaboration meshes seamlessly with the Ion’s ongoing plans to support Houston’s growing innovation community in industries and fields that will change the world.”

The Houston Methodist Tech Hub at Ion is part of the hospital’s Center for Innovation, a network embedded into every aspect of the hospital that focuses on promoting transformational growth through the adoption of leading-edge digital technology. Innovation has been a hallmark of Houston Methodist for over 100 years, and the Center of Innovation has allowed the healthcare organization to take a more coordinated and focused approach with its innovation efforts and hyperdrive many projects within the organization, including the development of the smart hospital of the future, the ninth location in the Greater Houston area and most technologically advanced location currently under construction. Some of the technology on display at the newly launched Houston Methodist Tech Hub at Ion is part of the smart hospital of the future that’s set to open in 2025.

“Our new Tech Hub at Ion supports not only our commitment to the Houston innovation community but also to the rapidly shifting healthcare industry,” Michelle Stansbury, Vice President of Innovation and IT Applications at Houston Methodist. “We know we can’t solve the healthcare challenges of the future if we confine ourselves within our hospital walls or even within our own industry. We look forward to the collaborative space our new Tech Hub will provide and the future programming opportunities we can create together to inspire, challenge, and foster a spirit of innovation in our city.”

In addition to showcasing current technology being piloted at Houston Methodist, the space will also serve as an extension for community collaboration and a networking hub for entrepreneurs and ideators to break into the healthcare industry. The tech hub also will host educational events such as reverse pitch sessions to share problems and crowd-source solutions. If you’re interested in scheduling a time to view the space or connecting with the Houston Methodist innovation team, reach out here.

About Ion

Located in Ion District, the namesake building is the transformative centerpiece of Houston’s innovation corridor. Designed to bring our city’s entrepreneurial, corporate, and academic communities into collaborative spaces and programs, the sunlit structure of steel and glass is a home for advancing diverse knowledge, teams, technologies, and products that propel our world forward.

From Fortune 500s seeking flexible office space to first-time startups looking for the funding to design a prototype, the Ion provides wide-reaching space and support to connect every What if with What now? — welcoming individuals and teams of all kinds to a place to build a better way.

About Houston Methodist

Houston Methodist is one of the nation’s leading health systems and academic medical centers. The health system consists of eight hospitals: Houston Methodist Hospital, its flagship academic hospital in the Texas Medical Center, six community hospitals, and one long-term acute care hospital throughout the Greater Houston metropolitan area. Houston Methodist also includes a research institute; a comprehensive residency program; international patient services; freestanding comprehensive care, emergency care and imaging centers; and outpatient facilities. Houston Methodist employs nearly 30,000 people and had more than 1.9 million outpatient visits and more than 138,000 admissions in 2022. For more information on Houston Methodist, see houstonmethodist.org.